2011: films and tv-series

I haven't seen many films in the cinema, so this is going to be fairly short.

The standout film for me this year was La piel que habito (the skin I live in), a film by Pedro Almodovar. Almodovar is a bit hit-and-miss for me, while Todo sobre mi madre is one of my favourite films ever, I wasn't a fan of La mala education - which was also the last time I saw an Almodovar in the cinema. But I decided to take my chance on this one, and I'm very glad I did.

It's a typical Almodovar in many ways, but also a very 'modern' film, it starts a bit slow but there really aren't any superfluous scenes. Almodovar slowly unraps the film, with 2 surprises - one surprise basically turning the entire film on its head. It makes you think, but it's also silly, unbelievable, disgusting, horrible, laughable... I didn't know how to react.

And when the film forces you to think about sexuality and morality, there's no way you won't be confused. But that's a good thing, as far as I'm concerned, it's certainly better than handing you everything on a platter. And like with most things, the less you know about the story, the better, so if you still need to see it, avoid trailers and such.

The only bad thing I can say is that the ending is very cliché, and almost makes it feel like a comedy. There is humour here, sure, and some parts are ridiculous, but I thought it didn't really fit an, in essense, very dark film.

But still, it's not like anything I've seen this year, so La piel que habito is my favourite film of 2011.

As for the rest: I very much enjoyed the Marvel films. Thor was great, very entertaining, and X-men: First Class had such a great Xavier-Eric dynamic. And I personally would've chosen Eric at the end, even though I always like the "good" guys more. I also felt there was a certain sadness to the film, like the sadness of lost innocence, which I quite enjoyed. Captain America was far better than I thought it would be, the weakest of the three maybe, but still good fun.

Rise of the Planet of the Apes was also very good, I thought it would be another dumb action film, but the pace of the film surprised me. Of course there was also Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows part 2, probably the best HP film.

I should also mention The Eagle , not really a great film but I enjoyed the relationship between the two main characters. And it combines two things I like: Scotland and Ancient Rome!

The last film I've seen in 2011 was Tintin. I enjoyed it, but for me, some scenes almost made me facepalm because of completely unbelievable cartoony sillyness. They try to be super-realistic for most of the film, but then suddenly there's a stupidly silly chase scene with Snowy being a sort of superhero dog. Maybe I've become too cynical, I don't know. They probably put in scenes like that so the under-fives don't fall asleep.

As for tv-series, um...let's see...well, having the memory of a goldfish certainly doesn't help. I saw season 4 of The Big Bang Theory, and I enjoyed most of it. The episode with Levar Burton is definitely a classic. And the one where they go to a science conference. And the one where they dress up as the Justice League. And... well, plenty of good eps really. And I must say I love Amy Farrah Fowler.

I gave up on House MD around the 5th season, but somehow I ended up watching season 7 when it was on TV. And I enjoyed it. I don't really have much else to say about it... I liked Masters, but I was also very happy when 13 came back. Although that ep with her prison friend is probably my least favourite. I'm in no rush to start season 8, I'll probably wait until it's on tv.

I saw season 5 of Dexter at the start of the year, but it was easily my least favourite season. I'll probably watch season 6 when it's on tv, but I'm not excited about it at all.

I also finished watching Spartacus: Blood and Sand. I saw the first half last year, but only saw the second part last month. To be fair, there's a huge difference between the two parts. First part is mostly about Spartacus killing people, second part is more about Batiatus backstabbing other people, and politics and treason in general. First part was cool, yeah, but the second part is so good it almost rivals Rome. I always enjoy seeing Lucy Lawless, and John Hannah is brilliant in this, he has all the good lines. Like the time he sends Spartacus to please a woman. "Bring her to satisfaction, and see our fortunes rise along with your cock!" Good stuff, good stuff.

I'm sad that the guy who played Spartacus, Andy Whitfield, died of cancer a couple of months ago. They're doing season 2 with another guy, it's probably going to be weird...

Not a 2011 series or season, but I finished season 7 of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. DS9 is the true connaisseurs choice of Star Trek series, of course, with the infamous In the pale moonlight episode as a highlight of how un-Star Trek the series really is (ie. the Good Guys do Bad Things, humans are -how shocking- not perfect). It also has the best Star Trek character ever, Garak (I even bought Robinson's book about Garak, A Stitch in Time, and it's great). I don't know if DS9 is my favourite Star Trek series, but it probably has the highest great/rubbish ratio of all the series. It has its share of weak episodes, but never as bad as early TNG/Enterprise and Voyager (in general). And let's be honest here, 99% of TOS is pretty laughable when you watch it now. 1930s gangster planet? Oh-kay...

Speaking of Enterprise, Season 3 and 4 are pretty good. Season 3's Xindi eps are good and have a great conclusion, and season 4 has several great mini-arcs. The Andorian arc is probably my favourite, especially since it gave me several nerdgasms (come on guys, it was the very beginning of the United Federation of Planets! A Human-Vulcan-Andorian-Tellarite alliance! Four races that mistrust each other unite against a common enemy! It doesn't get any better than this!)

Yes. I better stop here. Coming up: music, videogame and tennis entries.

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